Burton, Maurice George Walter

He was the youngest of the four sons of Alfred Henry Burton and Mrs Ellen Amelia Burton of St. Leonard’s Lodge, St. Leonard’s-on-Sea, and 18 Manson Place, Queen’s Gate, London. His three brothers all died in conflict. The twins Robert Cecil Burton (C1896-1900) and Stephen John Burton (C1896-1901) were killed in 1915 and 1917 respectively, and his elder brother Arthur C. Burton (C1891- 1895) was killed in the Boer War in 1899.

He entered Mr. Cook’s House in Short Half 1907, and left in July 1910, when he was only just sixteen. He went into business in London, but his work was interrupted by the war, during which he served in the RASC (Motor Transport) and reached the rank of Captain. Although over age, he volunteered for service in 1939, and again held the rank of Captain from March 1940 in the RASC. It was on active service, working in the War Office, that he died in London on January 29th 1942, aged forty-seven. He was buried on February 3rd 1942 in a family plot at the east end of St. Andrew’s churchyard, Fairlight, East Sussex, after a funeral service at Christ Church, St. Leonard’s-on-Sea. He lies not in a Commonwealth War Graves Commission grave (unlike the two other casualties in that churchyard), but is commemorated on the family tomb – along with his brother Robert. The memorial on the double grave space comprises kerb-stones eight feet square, with two recumbent white marble crosses on a landing of red marble.